


The Second Chance or Babies Fix Everything

by RunRabbitRun



Category: The Avengers (2012), Thor (2011)
Genre: Age Regression, Babies, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-03
Updated: 2011-12-03
Packaged: 2017-10-26 19:50:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/287202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RunRabbitRun/pseuds/RunRabbitRun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One of Loki's nefarious spells backfires, turning him into a baby. There's no reversing the spell, and it's not like SHIELD can arrest a one-month-old infant, so Thor finds himself promoted to Daddyhood.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Second Chance or Babies Fix Everything

**Author's Note:**

> FLUFF for the kinkmeme :)

At first, no one knew what to make of it, not even the unshakable Fury or the preternaturally collected Coulson. There had been some noises about having the child taken into custody, fostering, and even possible adoption by SHIELD itself, but those suggestions never went beyond that: suggestions. One look and a harsh word from the God of Thunder was enough to shut everyone up.

Now all anyone felt brave enough to do was to tiptoe around Thor and the newest member of their little 'family'.

It was almost funny, in a ridiculous sort of way. There was Thor, with all his bulk and muscle and archaic warrior weirdness, cradling a tiny baby boy version of Loki in his huge arms while he flipped channels or attended team meetings. To see Thor holding this tiny little thing on his lap, supporting his dark head with one boat-like hand while feeding him baby formula mixed with a heady concoction of organic mead and sheepsmilk with the other _("Asgardian children are fed alcohol from birth, good sir Doctor, with no adverse effects. Babes not raised on a goodly amount of mead grow to be weak and malnourished.")_ was jarring, but also kind of sweet. Big, boisterous Thor suddenly became gentle and soft-spoken when he held his little brother.

The doctors that had looked him over in the days following The Incident had declared Loki to be a perfectly healthy, perfectly normal (for an unspeakably powerful alien) newborn. He wasn't so different from a human baby, really. He was unusually quiet, though, displaying very few signs of colic or fussiness. He slept a lot, tucked against Thor's chest, and the only time he truly showed signs of distress was when Thor was not in his line of sight. When safely held in his brother's arms Loki would only twist his pudgy little hands into Thor's shirts, watching the world around him with big green eyes that held no trace of malice or calculation, no sign of the villain he had been a scant few weeks ago.

Back when he had nearly killed them all with some deadly spell that ended up backfiring, changing him into an infant.

Thor was of course his favorite person, but he would allow Jane Foster or (inexplicably) Clint Barton to hold him without much fussing. Anyone else's attempts were met with tears and quiet, snuffling little cries that, while nowhere near as loud or piercing as a normal baby's wails, were no less distressing for anyone present. For some reason he despised Tony, and seemed to like spitting up on him at every opportunity. Tony took in in stride though, and adopted a policy of Not Being There when Loki was being fed. As the weeks passed (with zero sign of the 'deaging' wearing off), Loki's apparent animosity towards the Iron Man slowly lessened, especially after Tony presented the baby with a homemade gift he'd constructed: a set of chunky building blocks that flashed different colored lights when touched or (in Loki's case) chewed on. Tony still made no attempts to hold him though. Loki'd ruined enough Savile Row shirts for Tony to still be cautious.

More time passed. Talks of reversing whatever spell had changed Loki grew less and less. By the time Loki took his first halting steps, right in the middle of a routine meeting, no one flinched away or watched him with suspicious eyes as though he would shift back into his adult for at any moment and blast them all to hell. Instead, the meeting was cut short and everyone ended up in the mansion's kitchen, toasting Loki's achievement while Thor fairly glowed with pride.

\---

Jane woke up at around 2:30 in the morning to a lonely bed and nothing but white noise coming from the baby monitor on Thor’s bedside table.

She leveled herself up slowly, rubbing her eyes and casting a perfunctory glance over at the closed door to the ensuite bathroom. There was no light shining from around the edges or under the doorframe so she sighed and went about gathering up her bathrobe and fuzzy reindeer slippers. Wouldn’t do to go wandering around the Avengers Mansion naked, no matter how much Tony might enjoy and encourage it.

Jane had never been a very deep sleeper. Maybe it was genetic or maybe it had to do with most of her important work being done in the dead of night; either way, waking up at odd hours was nothing new. It was nothing new to Thor either, for while he may have been superficially identical to a human man in terms of how his body looked, the fact remained that he was a nigh-invulnerable superpowered alien. Needless to say, the guy didn’t need as much sleep as your average human.

Despite this, the big guy had his limits. And Jane knew that after three straight days of battling Dr. Doom and keeping him from putting half of Manhattan under water, even the mighty Thor needed a good night’s sleep. Even when he hadn’t been fighting Doom directly, he had been frantically protecting Jane herself and none other than Doom’s former partner, Loki.

Careful to make as little noise as possible, Jane snuck through the sleeping house, hoping absently that she didn’t run into anyone on her way downstairs. Even after several occasions of staying overnight with Thor she still felt a little awkward, like she was staying in a stranger’s home. She was Thor’s guest (and heaven help anyone who tried to deny Thor anything) and she was on SHIELD’s payroll as one of their chief researchers, but that didn’t stop her from taking extra care not to disturb anything or anyone as she tiptoed through the corridors. She padded down the stairs, passing Hawkeye who had collapsed on the couch in the lounge, and quietly, quietly pushed open the swinging door to the kitchen.

Yep. Suspicions confirmed.

Loki blinked his enormous green eyes at Jane over Thor’s muscular shoulder and pointed at her with a chubby finger.

“Dadadadada,” he said.

Thor turned in his seat and smiled wearily at Jane.

“Hello, Jane. Should you not be sleeping?”

“I was but I must have been feeling a little chilly without you there, so.” She answered, wrapping herself around Thor’s warm bulk.

“My apologies.” Thor murmured smiling.

“Yana, papa,” interjected Loki, who had gotten a hold of a lock of Jane’s hair and was about to put it in his mouth. Thor tugged Jane’s hair away from the baby.

“I’m Thor, Loki. Not papa.” He said slowly, clearly.

“Tho papa.” Said Loki and stuck a finger in Thor’s ear.

“Close enough,” Said Jane with a chuckle, ruffling Loki’s wild black curls. The toddler gave her a look that could only be described as indulgent, as though she were the baby and he the ever-patient adult. “Cheeky.” She admonished jokingly.

“As he ever was.” Agreed Thor, but his smile was vacant, distracted.

“Jane, I wonder if… no, that is foolish.”

“What is it?” asked Jane.

Thor paused, his brow furrowed with thought. Jane waited patiently, having trained herself to just let Thor speak at his own pace. The big man was not stupid, not by a long shot, but his intelligence was so different from hers. Jane’s mind worked in brilliant bursts or at a quick pace. Thor’s thoughts came steadily, deliberately. What genius he possessed lay firmly in the areas of fighting and the physical. When it came to the theoretical, he thought at the speed of someone with a thousand years of life behind and before him. No need to rush, no matter how much Jane itched for it.

“Loki is my brother, no matter his blood.” Thor said finally. “Even in this form he is my brother.” Thor stroked a hand over Loki’s hair and the little boy cooed happily at the touch. “But now… I do not know if he is the same person as he was. Does that make sense? I care for him still, but I feel some times as though he is a stranger. He is my brother but how can I know if he is still my Loki?”

Jane hmmed and sorted through Thor’s words. “So… what you’re saying is that you care for this baby” she took Loki’s tiny fingers in hers, pulling them away from where they’d wound themselves into the fabric of her robe “As you cared for Loki and you still consider him to be your brother… but you’re worried about his personality is… or will be the same? That because he’s so different now that he’s basically an entirely different person?”

“Yes.” Thor nodded eagerly. “I would still care for him even if he were turned into a horse” here Thor smiled at his own private joke “But I cannot help but wonder if this Loki is going to grow to be anything like the Loki I knew. I wonder if… I wonder if the man I knew is as good as dead and this child is only him in body, not in mind.”

Loki seemed to know they were discussing him and made a high-pitched noise and flapped his arms spastically. Thor bounced Loki, his voice gentle but his eyes weary and tired.

Jane pulled a stool close to Thor and sat down, leaning against his side and wrapping her arm around his shoulders, secretly delighting in how broad he was compared to her.

“There’s really no way of knowing for sure.” She said “I think maybe this little baby is Loki, but… a better Loki, I guess? Loki-given-a-second-chance? Does that make any sense?” Thor quirked an eyebrow at her and Jane laughed. “I guess what I’m saying is that I think this is still your Loki and if he grows up to be a different person then it’s because he’s been given a better life than what he had before. I mean, no offense,” she amended quickly, “but from what I knew of the guy he seemed kind of messed up. Like he had a lot of issues.”

“He did. I was too young and foolish to see it before but I know now that Loki was often unfairly passed over in favor of myself. It did not do much for his state of mind.” Thor said solemnly.

“Yak wa, papa.” Said Loki seriously.

“Thor.” Corrected Thor.

“Papa!” shrieked Loki happily and yanked lightly on Thor’s threadbare t-shirt.

“This is all Tony Stark’s doing.” Grumbled Thor. “He has taught Loki to call me his father when he knows damn well I still consider myself to be his brother.” He huffed in frustration but Jane could see his smile. Tony would do something like that.

“He couldn’t ask for a better papa.” She soothed and kissed Thor’s temple.

“Now, papa,” she teased, “You give him to me and go back to bed. That’s an order. I’ll put him down for the night.”

“As you wish, my lady.” Thor murmured, bowing slightly in his seat and handing Loki over. Loki growled and squealed, his chubby hands prodding at Jane’s chin and pulling on collar of her robe. In the lounge, Clint groaned and cursed.

“Bah! No ga na!” Loki cried and buried his face in Jane’s shoulder. He continued to babble quietly as Jane sent Thor off to bed and he was reduced to murmurs and sighs as Jane took him upstairs to the room Thor had commandeered to be his nursery and tucked him into his cradle. He kicked off the blankets and giggled in a vaguely devious manner. Jane patted his belly, silently grateful for all the babysitting hours she had racked up in high school. Loki was cute but Jane wasn’t sure she’d be as tolerant of his obstinate and talkative nature if she hadn’t been thoroughly used to how difficult babies could be.

Also, unlike Thor, she had no doubts that Loki was still very much himself, just better adjusted and less crazy this time around.

After a few moments, Loki quieted and yawned, his doe eyes blinking heavily. Jane stroked his hair one last time and was about to leave when she heard a soft cry coming from the cradle.

“Mama!”

Jane froze in her step and very slowly turned to face the security camera perched high up in the corner of the room. She scowled and flipped the device the bird.

“I’ll get you for this, Tony Stark.” She promised darkly.

But she still grinned.


End file.
